Alone in the Dark - A Dark Ghost Sequel

TWELVE

"Stop driving over potholes!" Chubs complained, attending to a small wound on the side of my head as Liam tried to follow the helicopter, which was just above the clouds and only appeared every now and then. Vida was hanging out of the window and giving him instructions on which way to turn.

"Always the backseat driver," Liam tutted, swerving to make a turn as the helicopter tried to lose us. His hands were clenched around the steering wheel and his expression was nothing but determined.

It was good to know we were on the same page.

Cole was alive, and we had to find him.

"I'm trying not to blind our good friend Aria here!" Chubs shot back, pulling on the thread that was sticking out of my temple as I winced. "Sorry," he said slightly more gently, before trying to stitch the cut again. "You know this would be easier if we were stationary."

"Do what you have to do," I muttered, hands fisted in the fabric of my shirt. "I could be blinded for all I care, we just have to find Clancy and Cole. I did not save his ass from Jamboree just for him to get pulled back there."

"You saved his ass from Jamboree because you're in love with him," Ruby pointed out.

I brushed her off. "We don't have time to unpack all that."

She wasn't wrong. I had a headache and it wasn't just from the fact that Chubs was literally stitching up the side of my head. Every time I closed my eyes at a new burst of pain, memories sparked in my mind. Everything I'd managed to suppress about Cole— according to Chubs it was an attempt to spare myself from more loss— was coming back in fits and starts, and what I hadn't remembered during the fight, the little things, were all I could think about.

"You need more power," Cole explained, adjusting my fighting stance just a little. I rolled my eyes, ignoring how the lack of heating in the training room sent goosebumps along my bare arms. To combat the cold, I adjusted the position myself— not in the way he'd directed— and let him correct me again, this time by putting his hand around my wrist to move it into the right place.

I smirked as I felt the familiar fire coursing through my veins. "I have plenty of power, Stewart," I replied cockily.

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "I know what you're doing. But we're focusing on physical power, not mental. This ain't about all that fancy PSI shit. This is just you, and you're on your own. What happens if you're in contact with a green and don't have any fire, electricity, or telekinesis?" It was a rhetorical question as Cole circled around me, and I knew if I opened my mouth to even try an answer he'd cut me off anyway.

"I fight my way out," I ended up replying, and he nodded in approval.

"Exactly." He brought his fist up and I blocked it as we started to circle each other. "You're good, but you need to shift your weight when you throw your punches, come at me with more energy." I nodded, watching him carefully for any cue to hint at his next move.

When one didn't come, I made one myself. He dodged it, but grinned, assessing it as he did so. Cole's next attack was so quick I almost didn't see it coming, but I ducked, catching his arm and trapping it to hold it out of the way. "I'm a fast learner," I added, before I pushed him away from me and we continued.

"Believe me, darlin', I can tell."

The trees became a blur as Liam sped up, muttering under his breath as the car complained. He changed gears and pushed the gas harder, leaning forwards a little over the steering wheel to get a better look at the chopper. "It's rising, we're gonna lose him— them, we're gonna lose them!" He corrected himself at the last minute but we were all already thinking the same thing.

Losing Cole again would break him.

I was all-too-familiar with the feeling.

"Can we bring it down somehow?" I asked, trying to think of a solution.

"Not without damaging it." Chubs shook his head, "It's too risky."

Vida hesitated, looking between Chubs and Ruby. "Leap frog?"

"Leapfrog?" Nico asked in confusion.

"Fake East River," she elaborated. "Crossing the ice? Telekinesis, come on guys."

Ruby frowned at her. "No way, it's too dangerous. You can't seriously be suggesting that."

"What other choice do we have?"

"What the fuck do you mean by leapfrog?" I asked in confusion. "What am I missing?"

Vida sighed, "It's like using our abilities to levitate each other up, it started as leapfrog to get over the ice but then we figured out that in the right situation... If you've got enough people, that shit's like flying."

"Yes!" I nodded. "Let's do it."

"No way! Absolutely not. There's a million reasons why I don't condone this," Chubs shook his head vehemently. "No way. I won't let you."

"It doesn't matter," Liam swerved the car off the road and pulled over on the grassy verge. He jumped out, following the action with a slam of the car door before he walked off, hands braced behind the back of his head. "We lost them."

The rest of the car fell silent, sharing concerned looks. Ruby reached for the passenger door handle but I shook my head, doing the same in the back. "Can I go first? I'm making up for lost time."

She nodded. "We'll think of something. While you two are talking, we'll figure out a plan."

"A plan that preferably doesn't get us killed," Chubs added, and Vida swatted him lightly in the arm.

Taking a deep breath, I got out of the car and made my way towards Liam. "Lee?"

"You doing damage control or is this a pep talk?" He mused, shoving his hands into his pockets. He didn't make eye contact, instead choosing to look out along the horizon in the direction the helicopter had disappeared in.

"Can't it be both?" I joked, stopping once I was shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

"He's alive," his voice came out almost like a whisper. "He's been alive this entire time... we stopped looking, but he was out there. What if we were close to finding him, and we just stopped?" Liam took one of his hands out of his pockets and ran it through his hair, closing his eyes for a second while he took a breath. "I shouldn't have stopped looking. For either of you."

"Hey, don't do that," I shook my head, brows pulling tight into a frown. "Don't beat yourself up over this. You couldn't have known. But you're looking at this the wrong way, trust me. Cole's alive, and we have to find him, and we're going to find him. Saving Cruz is just an added bonus." I ignored his sceptical raised eyebrow and continued. "We have a lead. Now that Cole's involved, we have a lead. If we can't find where he is now, then we can try and find where he's been. Luckily enough, I'm familiar with his last known whereabouts."